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Want To Playtest An Xbox?
drix writes: "Microsoft is recruiting people to playtest the Xbox!"
Someone over there has got to be reading! Let me have a crack at one guys! (Course, if they don't the conspiracy theorists will know why:
and don't say, "Rob Doesn't Live in Seattle" cuz that's too easy. Course who am I kidding: The Microsoft conspirators are too busy saying the xbox will the crappiest system ever without ever touching one. I just see it as Microsoft's way of saying, "We're not a monopoly. Promise!" as they attempt to swallow another industry. The system may very well rock).
come on folks. microsoft is the king of user-acceptance testing. if anyone had any doubt they'd do this, they aught to check their head.
and it's a dang good business decision too. any product should go through this procedure.
http://kered.org
The microsoft conspirators are to busy saying the xbox will the crappiest system ever without ever touching one.
Are you okay Cmdr Taco? It sounds like you're having a bad day :-)
yes. this is for the masses. you, too, can get your very own X-box before M$ ships them in stores.
to get one, simply call gateway, or dell, or one of your favorite x-box manufacturers and ask them for the X-box special. this includes:
a 700Mhz processor
a DVD player
a large hard drive.
nVidia GeForce2
no keyboard or mouse (those are extra)
whabam! you have yourself an x-box.
Bill Gates:"No, really...it's not just a repackaged computer. i fucking SWEAR!!!!"
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
As I live in Seattle I figured I would just see if it would work. Oddly enough the "submit" button does not work in Netscape for Linux. Perhaps Mozilla? ;-)
Even the design of the site with bright colors and flashy catchphrases (* Get FREE stuff!) If they were really looking for quality testers they would probably take a much more lowkey approach (probably contacting previous testers before making an announcement like this).
As good as Microsoft is at software development, they are even better at promotion.
Given a reasonably level playing field, who would win a fight between a bear and a shark?
Everything we've heard so far about the X-box seems to indicate that it's going to be an ordinary console with everything that that entails in terms of tight control over software, severe manufacturer-imposed constraints on products, and ridiculously high licensing costs.
:-)
I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark on the basis of Microsoft's acknowledged ability to create markets for its products, and suggest that in practice the X-box will become the exact opposite of a conventional console as described in the paragraph above. Instead, it will become an entirely open platform, in practice.
Why do I think that this may be so? For a number of reasons:-
First, the console market is already fairly highly subscribed if not totally saturated, so the X-box will have to be pretty special to make a large proportion of gamers reach into their pockets again. All the other popular consoles are closed platforms. A way of becoming "pretty special" is ready and waiting. [The still-to-be-launched Indrema is doing something similar, albeit with a certification hurdle imposed, but hopefully this will not be a substantive barrier.]
Second, it just so happens that virtually all the big players in the console arena either have or will be bringing out new mega-powerful systems within the same time frame, so high technology alone may not be enough, especially since Microsoft is a latecomer to this market. A novel angle may be required to make headway.
Third, Microsoft knows full well that the popularity of Windows stems very largely from the massive buzz that was created by several years worth of unimpeded free-for-all copying of both the O/S and its applications. The official face of Microsoft may protest about "piracy", but unofficially they must know that in reality unconstrained access is an extremely powerful popularizing mechanism, vastly cheaper yet more effective than advertising.
These three things all point in the same direction: Microsoft will either make the platform fully open, or it will create an easy and inexpensive method for all and sundry to write and install games on the X-box, or it will turn a very blind eye to the cracking systems which will appear 2 microseconds after the machine hits the streets. Nothing is gained by restricting what can run on a platform (all the talk of controlling for "quality" is unadulterated rubbish --- people like to decide for themselves, thank you very much), but everything is gained by having thousands of products run on a console rather than merely hundreds.
We'll see.
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
The most interesting questions from my point of view were 1) What is the most important part of game design and 2) Who is the 'director' equivalent in a game.
We were having dinner at four separate tables, so we got four different groups of people answering the questions; but the answers were completely uniform. 1) The most important part of a game is the 'game-play', the way that the button presses influence the way the game works. Next is visuals, last is 'story'. 2) The 'director', as it were, are the game testers; the people who sit there and play the game all day, every day, as it is developed; to determine how it works and feels. We were quite surprised, and asked the question a few different ways; but the answer was always the same.
Now, Microsoft is not writing the games (are they?) but are building the boxes, so testers would have a different role there. Still, it's a very important one.
thad
I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.
As wacky as this might sound, the XBox might turn out to be a great opportunity for Linux gaming. Since all XBoxes will contain the same hardware, it's a cinch to put together a bootable Linux CD that has everything pre-configured for the known devices in the box. Load that puppy up with NVidia (or whatever) drivers, the sound drivers for whatever audio is in there, and lots of pre-configured settings, and you've got a Linux-based skeleton upon which games could be written.
... geek heaven!
Since I'm not a gamer, I have other ideas. If I didn't strongly object to giving $$$ to the evil empire, I'd pick one of these things up, load Linux on it, and use it as a home multimedia terminal connected both to my LAN and to the television and stereo. View web pages on the TV, play MP3's off the server, pick up streaming audio, control the lights in the house via X-10
And just think -- with XFree86 running on it, it'd be a real X-Box!
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Two small problem with your arguement. The dreamcast bears a logo that states Compatible with WinCE, not powered by. Secondly WinCE games for the dreamcast are extremely few and far between. WinCE on dreamcast has a reputation for slow loading times, and wasting alot of resources.
The only game I can think of that runs WinCE on the dreamcast is some vegas gambling game. Think Shenmue, Jet Grind Radio, or NFL2K1 run WinCE underneath? Nope. Now, you are right, bsod's on dreamcasts are few and far between. But it has little to do with Microsoft. Prolly 95% of the games for it have nothing to do with WinCE, and wont load it. I'm all for giving Microsoft credit when they deserve it, but the dreamcast's success has little to do with them.
"My head hurts, My feet stink, and I dont love Jesus." -Jimmy Buffett
Just to clear up some things about playtesting for Microsoft like the requirement of living in the seattle "area" and the free stuff. Pretty much you just have to live with-in driving distance of Seattle. My brother and I play tested Crimson Skies for them and you just have to make an appointment with them once they've called you to set it up then drive up there to play the stuff. Its not like a Beta test where they send out the CDs, you go in so they can poke and prod you while you play the game. As for the Free stuff you get to pick an item off of a list. When we went it was all computer games. Hope that clears up any misconceptions.